ABSTRACT
Background information about the population gives an estimate of the strength of any country. A country which has a young population is considered to be in an advantageous position in terms of future prosperity and economic growth. The chapter highlights the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the Indian population with special reference to the youth population, in addition to discussing youths’ potentials in terms of their educational background, their status in terms of education, health, employment, civic engagement, and migration as well as performance in sports. A comparative picture of the status of youth in different states is provided, based on the data of Youth Development Index, 2017. As per YDI 2017, Himachal Pradesh (0.689) is at the top of the list among the major states, in terms of overall performance, followed by Tamil Nadu (0.632), Kerala (0.624), Uttarakhand (0.624), and Punjab (0.623), while among the minor states, Puducherry tops the list with a total score of 0.724, followed by Goa (0.701), Mizoram (0.663), Meghalaya (0.663), and Sikkim (0.633). The chapter also discusses the aptitude, interest, and motivation of the youth, since it is very important to guide a youth in different directions for their career growth. This issue is very important as most of the Indian parents want their child to be either a doctor or engineer without understanding what they want to be. It is also relevant to mention here that a large number of children are in disadvantaged conditions in terms of education, healthcare services, nutrition, and safety, and often, they lead a poor quality of life.
